tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91317922014-10-03T02:49:27.084-04:00randalltOccasional information on Politics, Science, Art &amp;
Carolina Panthers FootballRandallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00353090672621663788noreply@blogger.comBlogger103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-15554671419890030392012-04-29T02:19:00.001-04:002012-04-29T02:19:46.645-04:00This is a testThis is a test, only a test of the new Blogger. If this had been a real post, you would have read something about the President's comedy routine tonight.Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00353090672621663788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-3603108034319087152010-06-24T21:11:00.000-04:002010-06-24T21:12:18.119-04:00Circus movie you must see<a href='http://kck.st/aelPif'><img border='0' src='http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/989327297/circus-documentary-tearing-down-the-tent-promotion/widget/card.jpg' /></a>Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00353090672621663788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-17697659636123872532009-10-20T18:44:00.002-04:002009-10-20T18:48:09.469-04:00Asheville's Progressive Hope"All politics is local" observed Tip O'Neill, a former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.<br><br /><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3500/4030371226_2a8ec62b6d_o.jpg" /><br><br><a href="http://gordonforasheville.com/">Gordon Smith</a>, from the gorgeous Western North Carolina city of Asheville, has taken the lessons of Tip O'Neill and has crafted a modern local campaign that is bold, inspiring, fun and accessible like none other I have ever seen. He is using social media, personal outreach and good old fashioned door to door politicking combined with energetic public events to reach thousands of people with his very progressive ideas. <br /><br />Please follow me below the fold to learn more. Local politics. It all starts here.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.contentnation.com/wiki/content-nation-book-chapter-6-politics">John Blossom</a> observed back in 2008 in his excellent piece on local politics and its changing dynamic, that citizens are making a profound difference on the political landscape through blogging, social media and interactive awareness never seen before. He uses Tip O'Neill as an early example before the modern tools we now enjoy arrived.<br /><blockquote>"All politics is local" observed Tip O'Neill, a former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. O'Neill was a Congressman from Cambridge, Massachusetts who learned this maxim of politics when he lost his first political campaign - a race for a seat on his local city council - by only 150 votes. When O'Neill asked some of the people in his neighborhood why they hadn't voted for him, they told him "You didn't ask for my vote." Tip O'Neill never forgot this lesson and went on to a very successful career in politics in which he was known for his ability to lead and influence the most unlikely combinations of political allies to get their votes - and to get business done. The art of politics is indeed all local, based on building bonds of trust and delivering on personal promises to people who have entrusted someone with their personal political endorsement.</blockquote><br />Gordon started this campaign back in the spring before announcing his intentions. He laid the groundwork by quietly building an organization of dedicated progressives while pouring himself into researching the issues that mattered most to Asheville voters. He had quite the head start in on that front as Asheville's premiere local <a href="http://scrutinyhooligans.us/">political blogger</a>. His blog turned five years old this year and it has covered every aspect of the local political scene. He is also one of the earliest Kossacks.<br /><br>Breaking into politics, finally, was an obvious direction Gordon needed to take. And one that Asheville <i>needed</i> him to take.<br /><a href="http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200991015056">Gordon wins primary</a><br /><blockquote>The arrival of a new era in Asheville politics was clearly demonstrated by the victories attained by Cecil Bothwell and Gordon Smith in the city council primary on October 6. These wins were built on hard and smart work by both candidates, sizeable teams of deeply committed volunteers and the grassroots organizing skills many of them gained working in President Obama’s 2008 campaign.</blockquote> <br /><a href="http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200991013056">Here's why</a><br /><blockquote>As I write this, Gordon Smith has just earned his place on the November ballot for Asheville City Council. It is a tribute to the planning and long hours Gordon and the team he built devoted to this effort. But more, to the years Gordon has already devoted to building a better Asheville. Gordon Smith has proven himself a force for a smarter, more citizen-centered approach to city government. Of course, Gordon Smith is approachable, responsive, and a good listener – he’s a child and family therapist. As operator of a small business and as an engaged citizen, he has become a focal point for people interested in a building a sustainable, prosperous future for Asheville. He will be an excellent community representative on Asheville City Council.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />Below are some links to the issues Gordon believes are essential to building a sustainable, progressive community here in the heart of Blue Ridge mountains. Asheville is a unique oasis of art, culture and beauty and Gordon Smith could use a <a href="http://gordonforasheville.com/donate/">little extra help</a> to push him over the top and into the City Council where he can provide positive, progressive leadership and a strong voice for change and a sustainable future.<br /><br /><a href="http://gordonforasheville.com/issues/affordable-housing/">Affordable Housing</a><br /><a href="http://gordonforasheville.com/issues/economic-sustainability/">Economic Sustainability</a><br /><a href="http://gordonforasheville.com/issues/environmental-sustainability/">Environmental Sustainability</a><br /><a href="http://gordonforasheville.com/issues/community-sustainability/">Community Sustainability</a><br /><a href="http://gordonforasheville.com/issues/transparency/">Transparency</a><br /><a href="http://gordonforasheville.com/issues/balancing-the-budget/">A balanced budget</a><br><br />Thanks for your time and please consider throwing a few bucks toward a progressive local voice. <br />And please come visit! The leaves are turning, the air is crisp and Asheville is alive with energy, beauty and progressive politics.<br /><br><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/X68NyAi21S4&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/X68NyAi21S4&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00353090672621663788noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-78893300482988755162009-10-09T15:51:00.000-04:002009-10-09T15:55:46.204-04:002009: The Nobel Hope-'n'-Hype PrizeWow. I think I was as shocked in my pre-coffee stupor this morning as Barack Obama must have been to discover that he'd won the million-+ dollar Nobel Peace Prize for nothing more than running a campaign on deception, cleverly labeled 'Hope'. Surely, thunk I to myself, they must be kidding! Since when did Alfred Nobel authorize his endowed prizes for great contributions in science, literature and politics to people who haven't done a damned thing other than maintain the bad old status quo?<br /><br />I mean, it's not like the U.S. has turned Iraq over to the puppet government we installed there after invading the country for lies in the last administration, as if Saddam Hussein (who got hanged years ago) was responsible for 9-11 or was any threat after years of embargo that had hundreds of thousands of Iraqis starving after Daddy's bullshit mercenary war in the early '90s. Last I checked, which was this morning, ridiculously overstretched U.S. troops and well-paid mercenaries were still there and still dying.<br /><br />Nor is it like the U.S. isn't still negotiating with warlords and drug kingpins in Afghanistan, or that the puppet government we installed there is in charge of anything other than the pallets of cash passed out to those drug lords. And yes, our troops and mercenaries are still dying every day there too. Why, last I checked - again this morning - Obama was still trying to get a troop surge there, despite not having any troops to work with after 8 years of decimating our vaunted "All-Volunteer" force.<br /><br />Oh... and civilians by the multi-thousands in both countries are still being slaughtered wholesale, while our overstretched troops play the old game of "take this hill today, abandon it to the enemy tomorrow" that lost us Korea and Vietnam. Then there's Pakistan, which Obama is bombing regularly with drones and slaughtering thousands of innocent civilians we're not even at war with. And of course there's Iran, which Obama is threatening daily with carpet-nukes because he doesn't like their diminutive not-really leader's rhetoric as our troops surround his nation. Oh, and then there's Columbia, and Obama's troop build-up there to ostensibly take on the drug cartels he's supporting out in the open in Opium-Land.<br /><br />The whole world is topsy-turvy crazy, and the Nobel committee is leading the pack. Wow. Just... wow.<br /><br />Wake me up when Barack Obama does anything real in this world to end and/or prevent war. Until then, I've just got to consider this as being just what it is. The Nobel Hope-Against-Hope Prize.Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-23501194086962032572009-10-07T14:54:00.001-04:002009-10-07T15:06:34.223-04:00Microcosm: Interesting Local PrimaryCross-posted to <a href="http://www.peoplefirstpolitics.com/microcosm-interesting-local-primary/">People First Politics</a><br /><br />As a microcosm of current American politics in an age of angry Teabaggers and motivated Progressives, the Western North Carolina city of Asheville has been providing some fine entertainment. The Mayoral/City Council races to be decided in November enjoyed their <a href="http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091007/NEWS01/910070316">much-anticipated primary</a> yesterday, and the results are quite promising.<br /><br />Asheville has been described as a "New New Age Mecca" by CBS and "America's New Freak Capital" by Rolling Stone, and indeed hosts a large and thriving population of musicians, artists of all varieties, organic consumers, gays, pagans, hippies and activist vegans. It's got Code Pink and PETA and even a group of Quakers who pass out subversive literature promoting peace on earth. Its first Gay Pride parade marches this coming Saturday. But Asheville has also long been famous as a hard core Appalachian backwater for its notorious police force, its crooked magistrates, and its semi-official love of the KKK.<br /><br />The Klan had a march a few years ago downtown, and the city ignored all loud protest and numerous petitions to allow them their march anyway. Their only restriction for the permit was "no guns." Before the march, the police confiscated numerous guns from the sheet-sters, then <i>let them march anyway.</i> Police brutality against citizens peacefully protesting the march to war in Iraq, officers who routinely violate citizen's rights and do things like shoot people's dogs inside fences... Things have been slowly getting better, could get a whole lot better if yesterday's primary statistics mean anything.<br /><br />There are three seats on the City Council open this year, along with the mayoral race. The incumbent mayor, Terry Bellamy received a substantial majority of votes, challenger Robert Edwards, will have to work very hard to unseat her. It was the City Council race that has provided the biggest reality show yucks, though. Incumbent Carl Mumpower, who challenged Heath Shuler in the 2008 Congressional and hardly made a showing, has been busy playing his King of Teabagger role with relish, trying to garner national attention as a mover-shaker. His latest act was to <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/10/2/789088/-Nazi-Is-As-Nazi-Does">label local schoolteachers "Nazis"</a>, leading to actual death threats against teachers and causing parents to become afraid for the safety of their children. And just to flesh that out, when chastized for it, Mumpower went on to liken our elementary school teachers to Communists, Castro, Hezbollah, and yes, Al-Qaeda.<br /><br />So it was with some satisfaction to see when the primary votes came in, that more progressive challengers <a href="http://gordonforasheville.com/">Gordon Smith</a>, <a href="http://cecilbothwell.wordpress.com/">Cecil bothwell</a> and <a href="http://www.esther4asheville.com/">Esther Manheimer</a> (who happens to be married to a public school teacher) took the vast majority. This may be a reflection of the Democratic/Progressive activism that started making itself obvious in 2006 with the defeat of Rep. Charles Taylor (a.k.a. "Chainsaw Charlie") by Blue Dog Heath Shuler, and expanded in 2008 to swing toward Obama. The energized left is apparently still engaged and still willing to get out and vote, which is something that perhaps D.C. ought to be paying some attention to.<br /><br />The way the votes break down is quite dramatic. The percentages don't look like much, but it's a primary (only 13% of voters turned out). I've listed below, with both measures to make it easy to parse. City offices are non-partisan, but the candidate positions are fairly clear even for those who aren't Carl "Nazi" Mumpower...<br /><br />Challengers<br />• Cecil Bothwell: 19.63% - 52% of ballots cast.<br />• Gordon Smith: 18.87% - 50% of ballots.<br />• Esther Manheimer: 17.29% - 46% of ballots.<br />J. Neal Jackson: 6.71% - 18% of ballots.<br /><br />Incumbents<br />Kelly Miller: 13.05% - 35% of ballots.<br />Carl Mumpower: 12.30% - 33% of ballots.<br /><br />City Council member Robin Cape did not seek reelection, but following the filing deadline decided to run as a write-in candidate for the November general election, thus avoiding the primary. Three seats are open. If this trend continues through next month's general, the tenor of Asheville's City Council with change significantly toward issues the residents feel are most important - preservation, affordable housing, public transportation expansion, Green and environmental issues, education. On that last front, let's hope that city officials won't be calling our school teachers Nazis or terrorists again any time soon.<br /><br />I think people in the area I live are beginning to turn on the ugly hate-politics of the hard-right WingNuts, even the more conservative contingents. This would certainly be a healthy thing to spring from the 'grassroots' of our own neighborhoods, cities, counties and regions to force a big change in the way politics is currently practiced in the isolated backwater of Washington, D.C. It's about damned time.Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-54567493715186106522009-10-02T17:35:00.002-04:002009-10-02T17:37:37.792-04:00Nazi Is As Nazi Does[ cross-posted from <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/10/2/789088/-Nazi-Is-As-Nazi-Does">Daily Kos</a> ]<br /><br /><b>Carl Mumpower: a Danger to the Citizens He Claims to Serve</b><br /><br />You'd think a fairly routine City Council race in a smallish city (~75,000 not counting tourists) in the sticks of Southern Appalachia would be off the radar screens of just about everybody else in the country. But alas, not so. One of the incumbents, a certain Carl Mumpower, has been busy making a claim for WingNut fame and fortune by egging on militia-style death threats against local schoolchildren and teachers. Mumpower is a hero of Teabaggers and hate-radio bloviators like Rush Limbaugh. So of course his more colorful antics this time around are getting national attention.<br /><br />The latest is about a YouTube video showing a one-minute clip of students at a local elementary school participating in a 26-minute performance last February about famous Americans, and celebrating the election of the nation's first African-American President. While that program fully accorded with the North Carolina educational curriculum per teaching about civic leadership, American heroes, good citizenship, diverse cultures and such, the clip has led to some nasty charges and ramifications.<br /><br />According to the <a href="http://www.citizen-times.com/article/200990929052">Asheville Citizen-Times</a> area resident Loren Lanter posted the clip to YouTube in late September, where it was picked up by national media and Rush Limbaugh as evidence of indoctrination in public schools. Limbaugh's old buddy Carl could of course be counted upon to exploit the situation to his dubious advantage. Mumpower announced:<br /><br /><blockquote>"...That is ritual behavior and that's how you plug things into kids' heads. I'll come right out and say it. That's exactly how the Hitler youth were programmed prior to World War II."</blockquote><br /><br />This absurd grandstanding has led directly to death threats against teachers, threats of violence to the school, and has caused many parents to become very concerned about the safety of their children. One of the challengers for Mumpower's City Council seat, <a href="http://scrutinyhooligans.us/2009/09/30/mumpower-compares-asheville-schoolteachers-to-nazis/">activist and blogger Gordon Smith</a> responded, sounding a lot like a rational and civic-minded human being:<br /><br /><blockquote>"Asheville's children and schoolteachers deserve our highest praise and encouragement. Instead we have a city leader insulting them and stoking the fires of violence. Carl Mumpower ought to apologize to the children, families, and school personnel for his dangerous comments and issue a statement condemning death threats against school officials."</blockquote><br /><br />Hear, hear. One wonders how Mumpower would characterize a one-minute clip of quick scenes showing public school students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to a piece of cloth, chanting requisite prayers to the Christian godling, dressing up and parading around in uniforms, etc. from way back when I was a kid. And those ubiquitous Duck-and-Cover drills were not just pointless to public safety, they were specific to instilling mass fear in the nation's children of a doomsday technology they weren't allowed to learn anything about. This country's never been materially different from any of its enemies in the matter of mass public and childhood indoctrination, brainwashing and fear-peddling. Heck we're much better at it these days with FoxNews, Limbaugh and his clones, and crazy WingNuts like Mumpower and ilk ready to demonize and threaten the very lives their own neighbors for a single minute of nationwide infamy.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gordonforasheville.com/">Gordon Smith</a> wrote the above condemnation of Mumpower on September 30 on his blog. On October 1 City Councilman Mumpower wrote on <a href="http://carlmumpower.blogspot.com/">his blog</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>"The recent brouhaha over our school kids reciting President Obama's campaign slogans has had more legs than most would have anticipated. Liberal apologists, culture vultures, and their enablers are joining forces to minimize the impact of the event and those challenging it. With all due respect, I would rather not."</blockquote><br /><br />He goes on to reiterate his Nazi charge, again identifies the school and its location specifically, and further likens the February civics program to indoctrination methods used by "Communist China, Castro, Al-Qaeda, and Hezbollah." Anything to pump those crazies, maybe get a WingNut to show up with assault weaponry and open fire at the school, or just park a rental truck loaded with explosives out front. Then he personally thanks the guy who posted the video to YouTube, despite the fact that doing so without any sort of consent or waver of any of the parents or teachers may be actionable, particularly in that it has led to those rampant and ongoing threats of violence against the school, teachers and students.<br /><br />It's probably redundant to mention that Mumpower is a holdover from the city's notoriously racist past, or that he spends time casing public housing projects for signs of illegal goings on (that as a Councilman you'd think he could assign to the actual law enforcement apparatus of the city). For those of us who live and/or work in Asheville, it would be nice if the City Council could reflect something of the true diversity and political leanings of its citizens, rather than the paranoid racist rantings of the seriously inbred corners of outlying rural incorporations. There are good liberal candidates running this year and <a href="http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091002/NEWS01/910020333">turnout in early voting</a> has set a record so far, promising a record participation when the votes are counted. <br /><br />The City Council races are officially "non-partisan," but this of course doesn't prevent the parties from financing and politicking for their favored candidates. Buncombe County Republican Party Chair Robert Malt admits that high turnout tends to indicate the citizens are "dissatisfied" with the status quo and are looking to change things. Let's hope he's right, and the last of our notorious wannabe mind-tyrants - who lost a bid for the 11th district to Heath Shuler in 2006 - is finally put out to pasture where he belongs. <br /><br />Carl Mumpower's quest for personal aggrandizement must stop threatening the lives of citizens he's supposed to serve. If he won't call off his vicious dogs, he needs to be tossed out like the bum he truly is. As unceremoniously as possible, please!Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-65784244335428382272009-09-21T16:06:00.001-04:002009-09-21T17:26:20.081-04:00Scam of AgesScam of Ages, aimed at me,<br />Let me hide myself from thee;<br />Let the sickness and the blood,<br />From my wounds and years of life,<br />Be by some miracle then cured,<br />Saved from bankruptcy assured.<br /><br />In 1980 my brother died in one of those notorious one-car accidents that plague the nuclear whistleblower set. He'd arrived that afternoon with his wife and three children with U-Haul in tow to start a new life. He and my hubby drove into town to get formula and disposable diapers for his youngest, never made it home. By morning he was dead, hubby was in ICU.<br /><br />It fell to me to deal with the car insurer and health insurer from his last job as health physics site coordinator at a nuke in Georgia, a job he'd quit two weeks before in order to move his family to New Mexico where we'd found refuge, had a job waiting for him building equipment consoles for radio and television stations. Because his insurance was through a rent-a-tech outfit out of Pittsburgh that often shuffled personnel around to different plants for outages and such, it covered him for a full 30 days between assignments and 30 days following termination. It came with a life insurance rider with a double indemnity clause if he died in an accident - $100,000 for his family.<br /><br />It was the first time I'd lost someone very close, the first time I'd had to deal with reluctant insurers (we'd previously enjoyed purely socialist health care via the US Navy). I made a deal with the car insurer during a meeting in Santa Fe that if they'd go ahead and pay $1500 for his funeral expenses, they could fight it out with his health insurer for the hospital bills. This allowed his wife to pay for the cremation and an urn, which was only fair. <br /><br />Hubby had no insurance, but the county of Taos had instituted a sales tax to cover the cost of indigent DFHs and mountain folk that ended up using the public hospital, so we didn't have to worry about that - we never received a single bill. Which was also fair, considering they'd done absolutely nothing for him other than put him in a bed and hook him to a monitor. I was the one who pulled the glass out of his head, cleaned out his holes and butterflied his cuts, the punctured lung reinflated itself, and what can you do for smashed ribs? They didn't even wash the blood off.<br /><br />The life insurer for my brother balked, but by then we'd left New Mexico. We stayed only long enough for hubby to regain strength and get sis-in-law settled into a cabin, supplied with wood for the coming winter, and hooked up with food stamps and various support groups to help her transition to widowhood. In the end for my sister-in-law it took three lawyers in two states to get the life insurer to pay (how dead do you have to be?!), and they ate up $60,000 of the $100,000 that was supposed to go to his family.<br /><br />So I got into the habit whenever life insurance salesmen called of asking if the policies they sold came with a legal rider to cover the cost of lawyers it would take to make them pay when we die. That was as effective at shutting them down as showing up to the door in a saffron robe when the JWs came calling!<br /><br />My next experience with life insurance was as executor for my mother's estate when she died in 2002. She'd worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida before retiring, had a $125,000 life policy through their offerings that she'd been paying on faithfully even when she couldn't afford medicine. When the paperwork was done I was informed that BCBS's provider had sold the policy when she retired, and the new insurer would only honor $60,000 of it.<br /><br />Her policy was clear in black and white, she'd never been informed that her coverage had changed, and her payments had never been adjusted. I informed my sisters that it was a complete scam, that we could hire a lawyer and handily win a lawsuit. But it would take at least 5 years and the lawyer would eat more than what the scammers were offering. So of course we had to settle for the $60K, even knowing it was a complete rip-off. That policy represented something my mother had counted on to leave us, so I was glad she wasn't around to deal with this. I reported them to the state Insurance Commissioner, who of course did nothing at all.<br /><br />Health insurance is no better these days, nor has it been better for a long, long time. In 1992 our 21-year old son was injured in a car accident. We had a small business policy, $2500 deductible but a million overall. They pre-approved everything, including an air ambulance transfer from Louisiana (where the accident occurred) to Florida where we lived. Then, after his remaining injuries were identified and surgery was deemed necessary, the insurance company decided to rescind the policy and the doctors abandoned our son. Simply told us everything was fine and sent him home. He died two months later when the unrepaired rip in his internal carotid gave way and he bled to death. His doctors of record - five of them - refused to accept him into the hospital.<br /><br />It took two lawyers two years to make the insurer pay the bills for what they'd approved, two more lawyers and seven years to get to trial in a malpractice suit against the doctors who abandoned him to his death for something that was entirely treatable. When it was all over the lawyers made out like bandits and we were out more than $50,000 for that small modicum of 'justice'. The practices that were blatantly unethical and in several aspects illegal in 1992 have since become standard operating procedure. Which is where we are today.<br /><br />Now whenever someone tries to sell me health insurance coverage I ask the same question - does this policy come with a legal rider to pay for the lawyers it'll take to get you to pay a claim? None of them do, of course.<br /><br />There's a lot wrong with our medical system in this country, including some extremely serious problems with <a href="http://docudharma.com/diary/15113/real-health-care-reform">the delivery system itself</a> I wrote about previously. Rampant malpractice, medical errors, in-hospital prescription errors, iatrogenic disease, pure negligence, etc. And a lot of that is a result of a class-based rationing system that nobody likes to admit exists, but does. Medicare patients get a different quality of care than the well-insured, the marginally insured get less care as well, the Medicaid recipients get genuinely lousy care, and the uninsured get pretty much nothing. ERs don't even stitch cuts or set bones these days, they might butterfly your gash (or give you butterflies to do it with), dispense a pain pill, maybe offer a tetanus shot, and tell you to call a specialist who might fit you in in a month or so. The uninsured are routinely charged twice as much or more than anyone else. Nowdays even the insured are driven into bankruptcy by an accident or illness.<br /><br />The only rational answer to this ever-worsening situation is universal, single-payer health care. Where everyone has the same necessary coverage and everyone receives what they need as best as can be provided. This is not what we'll get, of course. What we'll get are individual mandates for private scams and exactly zero oversight of the delivery system that all by itself is <b>the third leading cause of death in the U.S.</b>, killing about 200,000 people a year who wouldn't have died if they'd simply stayed away from doctors and hospitals.<br /><br />I read today that by the time "Health Care Reform" (whatever that turns out to be) takes full effect in 2019, things will be much, much worse. If insurers are free to continue raising their policy rates at 4 and 5 times the rate of inflation - as has become the annual norm over the past decade and more - a fair insurance policy from a private insurer for a family of 4 will cost as much as $30,000 per year. If subsidies are available so that premiums, deductibles and co-pays together don't account for more than 13% of Adjusted Gross Income, the government will be paying for all or some of this outrageous cost for every family whose AGI is less than $300,000 a year. How is that in any conceivable economic scheme "reform?" Where is the government supposed to get that much money? IRS fines of $3800 on the few who choose not to buy private $30,000 policies? That wouldn't pass muster in any 6th grade math class!<br /><br />Insurers are in it for the profits, not to make medical care available to people who need it. They are corporate entities, profit and profit alone is their job. Politicians are owned by the corporate lobbyists who are spending millions every day to make sure their scam remains lucrative. We'll see no real reform. This is all just another huge heist and corporate bail-out, amounting to a $10,000-$30,000 tax increase plus a profits-bailout from the government for those who can't afford the price. Which is the vast majority of us whose income has remained flat for a decade or decreased in the last couple of years.<br /><br />I am surely not the only person who sees that this is never going to work. So I have grown very impatient with the strange Kabuki that pretends it might.<br /><br />I might live another seven years and finally get some of that Medicare I've been paying into faithfully since I was 16 years old. Then again, given my strong dislike and distrust of the Amerikan medical system, I might not. That's my karma, I'm okay with it and will take my chances. What I will NOT do is pay a huge chunk of my now nonexistent income so some insurance hack can get million-dollar bonuses for sentencing people to death. Nor will I have the government pay that same insurance hack his million-dollar bonuses FOR me. That might mean the IRS will charge me an extra $3800 on my taxes every year, but since I'm too marginal to pay that much in taxes, so what?<br /><br />A friend of ours, <a href="http://gordonforasheville.com/">Gordon Smith</a>, has a good chance of getting elected this November. I'm thinking of trying to interest him in what Taos did way back in the late 1970s, of adding a penny sales tax on goods, a few cents on gasoline, a few bucks on tourists at local resorts and hotels, earmarked to the county hospital to pay for care to the uninsured. Lord knows we've got more than our share of DFHs and mountain folk here too (I'm one of 'em). It worked in Taos, the referendum passed handily even in those dark economic days. I think it would pass here. And it's a much better and fairer way of covering the actual cost of health care than anything D.C.'s been able to come up with.Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-91928896357137590422009-09-16T12:01:00.002-04:002009-09-16T12:15:56.227-04:00Angry Letter to My Blue Dog CongressCritterLast week we (or "current resident") received a slick 4-color 6x10 card stock mailer that looks at first glance to have come from our NC-11 congressional rep, Heath Shuler. At the top the reverse-on-blue header reads:<br /><br /><b>"Congressman Shuler Is Fighting To Make Medicare Prescription Coverage Even Better"</b><br /><br />and on the bottom reverse-on-red the italicized message reads:<br /><br /><b>"Call Congressman Health Shuler today at 202-224-3121. Tell him thanks for fighting to improve Medicare without making seniors pay more, and ask him to keep on fighting until we get the job done."</b><br /><br />The wording struck me a little odd. Why would Heath tell me to thank him for his notably atrocious Blue Dog position on health care reform? I mean, it's not like he cares what Democrats in his district have to say about the issue. So I flipped the mailer over and read on the bottom of the address/postage space:<br /><br /><b>"Paid for by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America."</b><br /><br />Whoa. Billy Tauzin's notorious PhRMA lobby. The one that got a secret back-room deal with Obama before this issue ever got to committees in the House and Senate. And who are now sending deceptive mailers like this all over the country as part of a $150 million PR campaign to promote their continued obscene profits on the backs of senior citizens, while the mandate to force all citizens to purchase junk policies from the for-profit insurance industry amounts to a ~$12,000 per year (plus steep annual hikes at four or more times the rate of inflation) tax increase on the middle class. Earmarked directly to the Murder-by-Spreadsheet crime syndicate, this porker is uglier than Hogzilla.<br /><br />FACT: According to an analysis of the proposed Part D changes by the Wall Street Journal, the Congressional Budget Office concluded that any decrease in average spending on prescriptions by seniors will more than be made up for by an increase in premiums seniors must pay for Part D. CBS News reported that CBO has confirmed seniors will be paying 20% more for Part D coverage by 2019 under this giveaway to Big Pharma.<br /><br />FACT: The Baucus plan also abets another huge giveaway to insurers by allowing them to charge older people (age 50-64) up to five times as much as younger people for the insurance policies everyone will be required to purchase.<br /><br />FACT: The per capita (per person) cost of ALL health care in the U.S. per year comes to right about $3,750. That is all care, for all people, insured and uninsured, Medicare, VA, Medicaid, SCHIP and charity. Why would anyone want to pay $12,000 a year for what actually costs $3,750? A government-run single-payer system could be paid for by graduated taxation based on actual costs and those taxes would be far cheaper even to the richest of the rich than the cost of a single for-profit insurance policy.<br /><br />Links:<br /><br /><a href="http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/drug-makers-plan-to-back-baucus-plan-with-ad-dollars/">NYT: Drug Makers to Back Baucus Plan With Ad Dollars</a><br /><br /><a href="http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/how-much-should-seniors-pay-for-insurance/">NYT: How Much Should Older Americans Pay for Insurance?</a><br /><br /><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/08/31/medicare-drug-benefit-lower-total-costs-but-higher-premiums/">WSJ: Part-D Offsets</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/53521">CBS: 20% increase in Part-D premiums</a><br /><br />According to figures from the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2009/08/health-insurers-continue-to-wo.html">Center for Responsive Politics</a> Shuler has received the following contributions from shady players:<br /><br />$195,262 from the health sector employees and PACs.<br />$13,750 from health insurance companies.<br />$74,800 from Big Pharma.<br />$77,062 from health professionals.<br />$27,900 from hospitals.<br />$10,500 from the nursing home industry.<br /><br />$399,274 in total. Now, the figures from CRP are what the Blue Dogs (individually) have received <i>since 1989</i> from the PACs and pools of various health related industries, but Shuler's only been in office since 2007. So that's quite the hefty haul over less than three years!<br /><br />Below is the letter I have written in response to this blatant insult from the Drug Pusher's Union Propaganda Squad...<br />__________<br /><br />Dear Congressman Shuler;<br /><br />The four registered voters in our NC-11 household were appalled by a slick mailer we received last week from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America urging us to "thank" you for working for them instead of us in the matter of health care reform. This letter is to lodge formal complaint and explain once again why we do NOT want either the insurers or the drug companies writing this necessary legislation.<br /><br />Our formal complaint is to the information provided in this mailer that you work for Big Pharma and not for us, the constituents you were elected - by us - to represent. This lobby group actually expects us to congratulate you for serving out-of-state corporate donors instead of us. We most certainly do not congratulate you for succumbing to rampant D.C. corruption in record time.<br /><br />The mailer talks about how Big Pharma's contribution to the reform effort will help close the Medicare Part D "donut hole" they themselves wrote into the original bill to ensure obscene profits and force American seniors on fixed incomes to pay more for necessary drugs than anyone else in the world. As well as prevent Medicare by law from negotiating lower drug prices, as all other first world nations (with universal, single-payer health care) do and have done so successfully for so long.<br /><br />In fact, according to an analysis of the proposed Part D changes under HR 3200 by the <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/08/31/medicare-drug-benefit-lower-total-costs-but-higher-premiums/">Wall Street Journal Health Blog</a>, the Congressional Budget Office concluded that any decrease in average spending on prescriptions by drug-dependent seniors will more than be made up for by an increase in premiums seniors must pay for Part D. <a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/53521">CBS News</a> reports that CBO determined seniors will be paying 20% more for coverage by 2019. 20% is very significant to a great many seniors in your district, Mr. Shuler. <br /><br />Two of the voters in this household - myself and my husband - will be 68 years old in 2019. Thanks to the recent destruction of the nation's economy by greedy bankers and insurers (whom we and our children and grandchildren were forced to bail out to the tune of trillions in completely unaccountable dollars), our only income will be Social Security, and our only access to health care will be Medicare. So you are going to deliberately rob us further on orders from your corporate masters? That is completely unacceptable.<br /><br />As proud long-time residents of WNC, registered Democratic voters and active participants in Democratic politics, we will be lobbying hard and very publicly beginning immediately in favor of a primary challenge to you next year from a candidate more committed to both the people of this district and the Democratic Party. You brought this on yourself, as we were all delighted when you were willing to run against Charles Taylor. We would have supported you for a very long career in politics if you'd just been less willing to sell us out in favor of corporations who do NOT vote in this district and cannot keep you in power. <br /><br />Though they probably can make you rich, so you may wish to go ahead and apply for that post-Congress Big Pharma lobbying job now.<br /><br />In Sincerely Sad Disappointment,<br /><br />[the four of us registered voters, address in NC-11]<br />__________<br /><br />Wanted: Dedicated public servant and Democrat with an understanding of policy issues that impact the residents of Western North Carolina, to vie for Heath Shuler's seat in Congress in the 2010 primary.Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-895196345811871122009-08-24T22:48:00.002-04:002009-08-24T22:53:57.932-04:00CNN at it's best (not)<blockquote>After Hoyer's conference call, an aide told CNN that the majority leader is in full agreement with the speaker about the need for a public option, and that a health reform bill will be hard to pass in the House without one.<br /><br />And with the president vacationing in Martha's Vineyard, the tide may be turning against the public option idea.<br /><br />"I'm afraid we've got to think about putting a lot of that off until the economy's out of recession. There's no reason we have to do it all now," Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, said on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday. Also on Sunday, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said that "one of the fundamentals for any agreement would be that the president abandon the government option." </blockquote><br /><br /><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/24/health.care.wrap/index.html">CNN engineering</a> at it's best.<br /><br />And hey quote Joe. How sad is that?Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-68566984477731927712009-07-22T21:46:00.002-04:002009-07-22T21:51:05.404-04:00Good job Mr. President<a href="http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001967/"> The President's</a> opening statement during his health care centered news conference.Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00353090672621663788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-6988581926541460072009-04-26T12:12:00.006-04:002009-05-11T00:01:44.269-04:00Three Mile Island<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3657/3476838406_74486dda3a_o.jpg" alt="TMI" /></div><br />I and my two compatriots are the subject of a story that's getting some wide recognition lately as a result of the 30th anniversary of the Three Mile Island accident. <b>Sue Sturgis</b> wrote the story for <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/04/post-4.html">Facing South</a> and it has since been published in a variety of online resources including Wikipedia, Alternet and Common Dreams. Links below.<br /><blockquote><br />It was April Fool's Day, 1979—30 years ago this month—when Randall Thompson first set foot inside the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pa. Just four days earlier, in the early morning hours of March 28, a relatively minor problem in the plant's Unit 2 reactor sparked a series of mishaps that led to the meltdown of almost half the uranium fuel and uncontrolled releases of radiation into the air and surrounding Susquehanna River.<br /><br />It was the single worst disaster ever to befall the U.S. nuclear power industry, and Thompson was hired as a health physics technician to go inside the plant and find out how dangerous the situation was. He spent 28 days monitoring radiation releases. Today, his story about what he witnessed at Three Mile Island is being brought to the public in detail for the first time; and his version of what happened during that time, supported by a growing body of other scientific evidence, contradicts the official U.S. government story that the Three Mile Island accident posed no threat to the public.<br />"What happened at TMI was a whole lot worse than what has been reported," Thompson told Facing South. "Hundreds of times worse."<br /></blockquote><br /><blockquote><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_accident">Wikipedia</a><br /><a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/134977/startling_revelations_about_three_mile_island_disaster_raise_doubts_over_nuke_safety/">Alternet</a><br /><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/03-9">Common Dreams</a><br /><a href="http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A393821">Indy Week</a><br /><a href="http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/4566">Oxdown Gazette/Firedog Lake</a><br /><a href="http://prorev.com/2009/04/hidden-story-of-three-mile-island.html">Undernews Progressive Review</a><br /><a href="http://www.nuclearactive.org/news/041009.html">concerned citizens for Nuclear Safety</a><br /><a href="http://www.hbzdedu.com/article/view/id-253">Online Educational Resources</a><br /><a href="http://www.millennium-ark.net/NEWS/09_USA/090414.nuke.plant.safety.html">Millinium Ark</a><br /></blockquote><br /><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3387/3476838418_9fd27ab60b_o.jpg" alt="TMI" /></div><br />The story is now getting some attention on the air waves as well. David Bear, whom we enlisted to help investigate the accident during the first month following the meltdown, appeared Friday, April 24th, on San Francisco's largest News/Talk radio station <a href="http://www.kgoradio.com/">KGO AM 810</a> with host Pat Thurston. You can listen to the one hour audio <a href="http://bayradio.kgoradio.com/kgo_archives/m3u/52000.m3u">HERE</a>. <br /><br />It's a great interview and David covers a lot of ground in the short time he had. It also includes a call from a retired nuclear aircraft carrier Captain who challenged David, only to be handed the cruel reality of the difference between military and commercial reactors.Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00353090672621663788noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-15287065524070279552009-04-17T21:06:00.003-04:002009-04-17T22:52:35.746-04:00Losing Lucy<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3544/3450846255_edf99e9450_o.jpg" alt="Lucy" /></div><br />We had a rough day. Our dear dog Lucy passed away this afternoon. We just returned from the bottom of the garden to lay her to rest with the many other fine animal friends who have owned our hearts through all our years here. <br /><br />Lucy was about 11 years old and will go down in history as the most loyal of all our doggie wonders. Joy found her at the mailbox with a too large collar. We guessed her to be maybe six weeks old and was tiny enough to fit in a coat pocket. She grew to be quite the lady. Amanda did change her name for awhile after she chewed up her new sandals, but other than that, she was pretty wonderful. <br /><br />She had also helped raise many other dogs and cats and kept them in line with an iron paw. Well, more than an iron paw actually. She was in fact, quite the Dom bitch to all her charges. But to her humans, she was all sweetness and innocence. She herded many a child away from harm, kept a sharp ear and eye out for danger and could run like the wind.<br /><br />We are still blessed by the cooing of our 16 year old magical white dove Noel, so we're not without an animal friend, but it feels pretty empty nonetheless.<br /><br />Bye Lucy Loo, we're sure going to miss you. Thanks for being such a great friend and protector.Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-60329312510154165192009-04-14T14:01:00.003-04:002009-04-14T14:06:50.933-04:00Tea BagginDear Jane,<br />I think the most disingenuous thing about the tea bag day, is that it is far right Republican show off escapade being painted as spontaneous and grass roots. It is not and everyone knows it. <br /><br />Digby has the scoop, and as usual, the reasoning. <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/">Corporate grassroots</a>.<br /><blockquote>Now, none of this means that the people who show up at the rallies don't actually believe in what they're rallying for. It's primarily a team sport for them, and this is the conservative team's play. But most of them probably don't realize (and wouldn't believe if you told them) that they are rallying on behalf of a major media conglomerate and other vastly wealthy interests to support rich people and corporations at the expense of people like themselves. Of course, that is the organizing principle of the Republican Party in general, but it is spectacularly arrogant at a time like this.<br /><br />If the press were to do its job, it would inform the public of this instead of regurgitating professional beltway press releases and pretending that these tea bagger parties are even coherent much less representing a legitimate grassroots anti-tax movement.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://savetherich.com/content/open-letter-media-what-astroturf-looks">Save the Rich</a> has become the most comprehensive site for understanding the truth about this gimmick. Below are some highlights for all you gentle seekers of the truth.<br /><blockquote><br /> • Corporate lobbyists and their consultants are organizing behind the scenes.<br /> • Fox News is encouraging turnout, sponsoring, and covering "Tea Parties" across the country.<br /> • Republican officials are driving turn out. <br /> • Protesters have no idea what they're talking about. At Tea Parties that have taken place over the last few days, attendees are more concerned with Obama's birth certificate than high taxes or government spending. Fringe gun groups, secessionists, anti-immigration activists and neo-Nazis are out in force.<br /></blockquote><br />I too applaud the efforts of Americans everywhere, regardless of political affiliation, to make their voices known. Fox News however is not a news organization. It is a propaganda device, nothing more. It is the primary media mover here.<br /><br /><a href="http:/www.freedomworks.org/">Freedom Watch</a> is a right wing Republican corporate activist organization led by the notorious <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Armey">Dick Armey</a>. There is nothing spontaneous or even remotely non-partisan here. That's the truth.Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00353090672621663788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-50677351126655615132008-12-16T19:10:00.005-05:002008-12-16T19:56:16.546-05:00Hope and Habitat for Humanity: Tough Times Holiday Report<font size=+1>20th Annual Christmas Jam Report</font><br /><br /><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3137/3114784942_711cff6491.jpg" /><br /><i>Warren Haynes and John Paul Jones</i><br /><br />Season's Greetings, Earthlings! <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Haynes">Warren Haynes'</a> (Allman Bros., Government Mule, lots of etc's.) 20th Anniversary <a href="http://www.xmasjam.com/mission.php">Christmas Jam</a> this year had the usual "pre-jam" in local pubs - locals mostly - and the main event went to 2 nights due to the all-star lineup. More musicians than you can shake a stick at, and more participants than any one venue could hold. So this year there were art exhibits, a film festival, day-jams at those local pubs, and two long, long nights at the A-ville Civic Center Arena - big enough to park all the tour buses, Winnebegos and Priuses before you even got to the curtained-off green room & bar or the musician's dinner, drinks and rehearsal area. I'm guessing this is where they park the lions, tigers and elephants when the circus is in town...<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=EVENTS03">Citizen-Times</a> covered the full event in all its glory from the starting gate - we love our Warren, just as we loved our <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moog">Mr. Moog</a>. We started early on as well, back when Warren was just beginning his long career in charity and memorial concerts/jams, which he figured he could do because... he's Warren Haynes. In 1990 we did our first Haynes jam at the Jacksonville Beach Pavillion, a memorial for Lynard Skynard / Rossington-Collins guitarist Allen Collins. Entertained the young'uns before the show with the basic juggling and magic. Not exactly respectable musicianship (we have no musical talent at this end of the family), but it does get us in free. Mostly because there IS (or, sadly, was) musical talent at other ends of the family.<br /><br /><div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3284/3114039666_92c63ef260_m.jpg" alt="JohnnyWinter" /><br /><i>Johnny Winter</i></div><br />Brother Chuck was a guitarist - Jimmy Hendrix, both Winters Brothers, Zappa and Captain Beefheart were his heroes. Little Sis sang backup for Skynard since before the air crash, provided harmony and backup for our short-lived Tulsa band the Honky Dreads (America's Premier Third World White Guy Band), sang for and promoted Derek Trucks when he was starting out at the ripe old age of 11, and was Alpha-Fowl of those notorious Hens (3-sister backup for Jacksonville's Roosters). Jax had more truly great, hard-working but starving musicians in those days than Nashville! Did what we could...<br /><br />Anyway, enough about that. Other than yes, we did get into the Jam's Opening Night for free (the only way we ever get to go to such things). Just called up Derek's father and he put us on the "family" list. Took 18-year old grandson Jahsh who thinks all these crazy old guys (like Warren and Government Mule as well as those dottering Allmans) and their weird music are just plain hippie-pitiful. Yet who looks EXACTLY like an 18-year old Derek, but with purple-tipped dreadlocks. Heck, he looks more like Derek than either of Derek's brothers (Duane was there for drums, David-who-is-incredibly-good-looking, was not). Derek was a safe 15 when our grandson was born, but grandson turned more than a few heads in the green room and on the floor, someone I am pretty sure was Tom Petty (not booked but having a lovely time backstage) was pretty sure Jahshua was a Trucks. You'll have this with all these rapidly aging hippies. Who are these old guys? Who are the young upstarts?<br /><br /><div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3209/3114039670_f28e596b2b_m.jpg" alt="Travis2" /><br /><i>Travis Tritt</i></div><br /><a href="http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008812140349">Here's the C-T Report</a> on the second night of the Jam. Some of the artists did a two-fer, which is no doubt why opening night when we were there lasted so late we had to walk out in the middle of the Allman Brothers' set because they didn't start until 2:30 a.m., way past my bedtime because I'm an old fart too. Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones had done a great mandolin to Warren's guitar and singing on "Going to California," during which Warren managed to hit every one of those high notes (some surprise and appreciation from all, including Warren).<br /><br />Night #1 hosted the bluegrass/country set, and Travis Tritt literally shocked everyone with his guitar chops, rocked the house on more than a couple of serious blues jams with various members of various groups. He shared a mike with Dell McCourry and Joan Osborne on a fine bit of down-home Bluegrass Gospel, did a semi-passable tenor version of "I Walk the Line" that since I'm related to and grew up with Johnny Cash, I didn't much like. Travis did finished up with a solo acoustic 'pickin' that floored even determined-to-be callous grandson. Who wasn't nearly so callous after he got picked up by a sweet young thing who'd driven up from SC just for the weekend's jam, and thought he was the coolest thing since sliced bread. Sigh. You'll have this with those up-and-coming hippies...<br /><br /><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3089/3114039652_bb8b1c1334.jpg" alt="Derek" /><br /><i>Guitar Master Derek Trucks</i></div><br />Derek and Susan were their sweet selves even in that crazy environment, so I guess it's kinda nice to be so far inside the clique that John Paul Jones isn't any more impressive than Eric Clapton or Bob Dylan (with whom Derek has played semi-regularly). We asked about the kids (home with Grandma), promised to stop by next time we're in town, Derek was taken a bit aback by Jahsh. Last time they'd hung out together much Jahsh was about 8. Now he's 18, that too-serious munchkin is 6 foot 2, has those purple-tipped blonde-blonde dreadlocks, and I'm sure Susan is asking her hubby all over again exactly how old he was when that particular baby was born to the notorious jealosy-bait Sally Saphire (in whose jam backup band Derek played on the Riverwalk all those years ago)...<br /><br />There were multiple recording and floating camera enclosures on the floor, taking up about a third of the room. I know they produce Jam CDs for sale for Warren's charity (<a href="http://www.habitat.org/">Habitat for Humanity</a>), and beaming a live feed into a big-screen TV in the green room surrounded with comfy overstuffed couches for the REALLY old set - parents and grandparents of the aging hippies onstage. I expect they could edit and market a video of all that great music by great stars to HBO or some other pay-per-view outlet and triple the charity take. Definitely worth the price (whatever it is), for music lovers all over the world.<br /><br /><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3133/3114039660_85330f6624_m.jpg" alt="JoanOsborne" /><br /><i>Joan Osborne</i></div><br />So for the 20th year, kudos to you dear friend Warren. You're finally getting the HUGE attention your ample efforts (and the willing participation of your many friends) have always deserved. And we'll be there again next year with bells on (not kidding), to thank you yet again. Not that many people understand how much of a serious performing artist's work is given away for free, even when they're Big Stars. We always called it the 'Donate Portion' of what would have been annual income, and it can run more than the usual 10% tithe.<br /><br />I still believe in Santa Claus. Of course, <a href="http://mountaincircusarts.com/">we're elves</a>, so that's not exactly a surprise. This year, as for 19 previous years, Santa *is* Warren Haynes (among so, so many others). That is always something to celebrate - even in hard times - and hope this year is running higher than it's run for way, way too long!<br /><br />Thanks, Warren. And thanks to all your so-talented friends, too.<br /><br />* Photos from the <a href="http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=EVENTS03">Asheville Citizen-Times</a>, because our picture-taking ability is minimal. Check out their Jam galleries, they've hundreds of great pictures and videos too!Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-11103802714601406792008-09-24T14:28:00.001-04:002008-09-24T14:31:37.114-04:00The Hard Times Begin...<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2885618674_ba9f38c239_m.jpg" alt="Marines" /></div>Just wanted to get this up from the blog <a href="http://www.shoestringbudget.org/">Life on a Shoestring Budget</a>, because it's scary as hell...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.shoestringbudget.org/survive-the-08-meltdown-part-1/">Survive the '08 Meltdown: Part 1</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>Beginning on October 1st - next week - the US Army's <a href="http://www.stewart.army.mil/3didweb/1st%20BCT/1stBrigadehom.htm">Third Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team</a> - all 6500 to 8000 troops - will be re-deployed within the borders of the United States for <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/24/103618/252">various police functions</a>. Regular police forces are being deployed for crowd control and peacekeeping functions as well, in managing protests, gas lines and runs on banks, grocery stores, etc. Expect to be challenged every time you go out, be thankful when it doesn't happen.</blockquote><br /><br />Holy Moley, Batman!Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-28121869860345511112008-09-23T17:16:00.003-04:002008-09-23T17:34:22.932-04:00Moses Meets the Burning Bush<font size=+1>What happened today on Capitol Hill:</font><br /><br /><div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3101/2879741380_5a24f9923e_o.jpg" alt="BushPaulson" /></div><br />Secretary of the Treasury and ex-CEO of Goldman-Sachs Henry Paulson called Congressional leadership for a get-together. He tells them something - no doubt using charts and graphs - so horrifying, so absolutely terrifying that they all come out looking like Moses (er... Charlton Heston) after meeting the burning bush. Hair's grown a foot and is stark white, their beards fall to their bellies, they've all got that far-away look in their red-rimmed eyes, and their hands are shaking. None dare breathe the edict: Set My People Free!<br /><br />So. What was it, exactly, that Paulson told them? Gee, we dunno. Nor are we allowed to know. Just as if this were top secret intelligence pinpointing WMDs that don't exist right in Saddam's palace, we don't get to find out. Even though it's supposedly OUR trillion or three or four they MUST have right now to bail themselves out. With a laughable "emergency" plan that, Deputy Admin press secretary Tony Fratto said just today, <b><a href="http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/23/15463/3802/393/607783">was drawn up over the course of months.</a></b> <br /><br />Months. Not days or even weeks. They sure as shit knew it was coming, and simply waited for just the right moment of panic to spring it on us as if the end of the world is mere hours away. Ah, the lively tune reverberates in my mind...<br /><br /><i>"It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine!"</i><br /><br />If that's not a scam just waiting on the Greek chorus to sing the dirge I sure don't know what is. They don't care what I have to say about it, but I say "No." If it turns out that nobody's bothered to keep track of where all the paper went, then nobody really owns the lien on my house. It's mine, free and clear (if they can't produce the lien, they've got no claim). Except for the annual taxes I pay to my LOCAL government. Which I don't mind paying at all since it supports the fire department, rescue squad, county hospital, roads, bridges, schools and libraries.<br /><br />Looks to me like they're trying to salvage the prime and just slightly sub-prime mortgage market by putting in a claim to the Treasury because if we were ever to figure out that our actual loans have been so fragmented and bundled and bought and sold that nobody bothered to keep the dead trees anywhere, we ALL own our properties free and clear and nobody who thinks they own the paper gets paid!<br /><br />Which, btw, is just fine with me. Wall Street can crash, I don't mind. I'm sure there are capable players just waiting in the wings to kick-start things when the wind dies down. Real estate's still a good income investment and can be had cheap right now. Hold the liens yourself on just two or three houses and you're guaranteed steady income for the entire life of the loans - even at straight interest of 8-10% non-compounded, you're still earning the premium. And if they default, the property goes back to you and you just sell it all over again. Wall Street may fall, but Main Street will survive. For the most part, anyway...<br /><br />[<i>cross-posted at <a href="http://www.peoplefirstpolitics.com/">People First Politics</a></i>]Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-7803399472918659862008-09-21T23:25:00.003-04:002008-09-21T23:32:42.789-04:00As the Cookie Crumbles...<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3105/2868610358_22769420c7_m.jpg" alt="McCain.jpg" /></div>Financial news of Wall Street meltdowns, Fed takeovers of big insurers and mortgage giants, and some serious death and destruction on the Texas coast from Hurricane Ike (which we're finding out about piecemeal after 6 days of "Heckuva Job, Skeletor"), it has become more and more obvious that the country is in such terrible trouble that this will be one of the most important Presidential elections of our lifetimes.<br /><br />So perhaps it's not so surprising that both friends and enemies of Republican candidate John McCain are beginning to become alarmed at what appears to be some sort of serious mental decline that has taken hold and accelerating rapidly. What's going on?<br /><br />Since McCain - a 72-year old man who has survived four bouts with malignant melanoma - has refused to release the results of his most recent medical check-ups and testing, we aren't likely to find out what's actually wrong during this election cycle unless (God forbid) he suddenly becomes gravely ill. In which case it'll still be All About Palin, since the ballots are already printed. John Ashcroft, it must be remembered, lost an election to a man who died during the campaign. So yes, that CAN happen in this country, on this level of politics.<br /><br />Now, I don't want to have to live through either a McCain or a Palin presidency. I think they're both more dangerous than Junior Moron, and Palin's definitely in line as heir to the Cheney "Imperial Vice-Presidency." But I also don't relish the thought of anything awful happening to any of the candidates, or having to watch as McCain painfully slides into some kind of overt dementia. This is a guy who really has had a long and storied career of public service, and who really has had a strong grasp of various foreign policy issues on a much higher level than merely being able to see Russia from the kitchen window. He's looking sick, exhausted and is scarily losing his mental acumen - why have his handlers not checked him in for a few days of serious rest and medical attention?<br /><br />It's more than just not remembering how many houses and condos he and his heiress wife own. That can be understandable if you're that rich and she's got her own games going. It's more than stupidly <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/did-mccain-economy-gaffe-prompt/story.aspx?guid=AB97BD36-9F9C-4239-ABC9-6B9E89D5C194&amp;dist=SecMostCommented">echoing failed Republican economic pablum</a> on a day when the whole world suffered massive economic meltdown. Now McCain has lost touch so seriously he <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/18/bizarre-mccain-remarks-ap_n_127346.html">can't remember who is running Spain</a> - a NATO member and strong ally of the US - and even confuses things so badly that he thinks Spain is a South American dictatorship!<br /><br />That's just not right. And it's not John McCain, who (in his younger days and in his right mind) knows all about Spain as a European country and NATO ally.<br /><br />If it's just jet lag and the stresses of hard campaigning, then he needs a few day's R&amp;R and nobody in his corner needs to apologize for it. If it's more than that, they're risking his very life forcing him to keep going in his obvious state of ill health and mental confusion.<br /><br />Somebody please do the right thing. Help this man - whatever he loses by being out of the loop for a few days isn't something that wouldn't have been lost anyway if he keeps on demonstrating that he's too old, sick and mentally unfit to be President. He deserves more just for having served so long. From his wife, his erstwhile "soul mate" in the Veep slot, his campaign lobbyists and his party.<br /><br />Give him a rest. He obviously needs it.Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-59390925194638913452008-09-17T17:31:00.006-04:002008-09-17T17:45:13.236-04:00Dirty Campaigns: American as Apple Pie<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2392/1750638376_36b5e9ede6_o.jpg" alt="AnythingVote" /></div><b><i>Anything for a Vote</i> by Joseph Cummins</b><br /><br />We get a lot of insults these days when pundits, pontificators and political apologists for one side or the other toss accusations and innuendoes around like parade candy. If you disagree with Mister 22% (Bush) you're a traitor. If you're a soldier and you disagree with the way the war's being managed, you're a "phony soldier." If you're trying to get Democrats elected you're "soft on terror," and if you object to the shredding of the Constitution you're "Islamofascist" or "feminazi" or just the standard commie pinko hippie scum. It just never seems to get old.<br /><br />My 85-year old Mother, who watches Fox News religiously (I don't know why) gets very upset lately whenever the subject of politics comes up among the brothers and sisters. Which is a shame, because we all love to talk politics, even if we don't agree about everything. It wouldn't be so bad if her blood pressure didn't rise so visibly just before she goes into the O'Reilly rant about "hate, hate, hate!"<br /><br />So I've decided the best thing I could do for her at this stage of her life (besides go spend some quality time just being with her, taking care of things for her, and listening to her stories) is buy her a copy of a new book by Joseph Cummins, entitled <a href="http://www.quirkbooks.com/Book.aspx?BID=250">Anything for a Vote</a>.<br /><br />Cummins traces political campaign name-calling and insults through the entire history of our nation, from George Washington to G.W. Bush, with lots of juicy stops in between. If politics is too mean and nasty to talk about in polite company, that means it's as American as Mom and Apple Pie! In other words, politics has always been thus.<br /><br />In what Cummins calls "one of the top five dirtiest elections of all time" - Thomas Jefferson versus John Adams in 1800 - Jefferson's hired political hack called Adams "a repulsive pedant," a "gross hypocrite," and, strangely enough, <b>"a hideous hermaphroditical character who has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman."</b> Whoa.<br /><br />Not to be out-slimed, the Federalists attacked Jefferson right back in the most personal ways. "Jefferson is a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, <b>the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia Mulatto father."</b> A Connecticut paper mentioned the excesses of the French Revolution against Jefferson: <b>"Are you prepared to see your dwellings in flames ... female chastity violated, children writhing on the pike?</b> Thomas Jefferson was just sure to bring the Reign of Terror to American shores! History, of course, demonstrates quite differently.<br /><br />Which is the point of this book, and the point I think Mom needs to reconnect with if she can. It's just hype and hyperbole. How the game is played, and if you care to participate in the process you sure shouldn't be taking any of it too seriously. Other choice tidbits:<br /><br />• Congressman Davy Crocket accused candidate Martin Van Buren in 1836 of wearing women's underwear: "He is laced up in corsets!"<br /><br />• Teddy Roosevelt got shot in the chest while preparing to make a campaign speech in 1912, but decided to deliver it anyway: "I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a bull moose!" Very effective.<br /><br />• Former President Harry S. Truman told voters in the 1960 campaign that "if you vote for Richard Nixon, you ought to go to hell!"<br /><br />I figure it might give Mom a giggle, remind her of her love of politics, and reassure her that all is not lost just because politicians disparage each other and the people think they're all crooks and liars. That's traditional Americana raw, just as it is. Which is pretty much just what it's always been.<br /><br />[<i>reposted from <a href="http://www.peoplefirstpolitics.com/">People First Politics</a></i>]Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-47950426824672208642008-09-11T20:39:00.001-04:002008-09-11T20:43:18.315-04:00Pretty Little Pig Y'got There...[<i>cross-posted to <a href="http://www.peoplefirstpolitics.com/">People First Politics</a></i>]<br /><br /><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3291/2845660899_02864acb5c_m.jpg" alt="LipstickPig" /></div><br />You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. An old adage of folk wisdom akin to not buying a pig in a poke, not happening until pigs fly, and teenager's bedrooms likened to a pig-sty. It's been a coon's age to a gnat's ass, he needs to buck up and take it like a man, you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear.<br /><br />Republican John McCain's campaign flunkies are all over this observation about the situation in Iraq, claiming that Obama called VP hopeful Sarah Palin a "pig" because <i>she likened herself</i> to a "pit bull with lipstick" in her RNC acceptance speech. What a total load of hooey! Looks to me like John McCain's campaign thinks of Sarah Palin as a pig wearing lipstick, and wants everyone to notice.<br /><br />When Joe Biden talked about funding for stem cell research in hope of treatments and cures for genetic diseases, the McCain campaign insisted the subject of people with 'special needs' is off the table because Palin has a baby with Downs Syndrome. Huh!??! That's like saying the subject of health care is off the table because Sarah Palin flew 2,000 miles and drove an hour across the tundra after her water broke so she could have a baby with Downs Syndrome at her local stitch-em-up. Or...<br /><br />The subject of sex education is off the table because Sarah Palin's 17-year old daughter is pregnant. The subject of co-mingling church and state is off the table because Sarah Palin's a dominionist holy-roller. The subject of reproductive rights is off the table because Sarah Palin can't keep from getting pregnant. The state of the union is off the table because the Palins have secessionist ties. Science education is off the table because Sarah Palin believes Adam and Eve rode to church on a dinosaur. The subject of family law is off the table because Sarah Palin's in the middle of a blood feud with her ex-in-laws...<br /><br />Wow. Who'd have thought at the beginning of the summer that the Republicans would succeed in taking all issues of national concern and policy off the table just by picking a whiny, self-described pit bull wearing lipstick as Vice-Presidential running-mate? Thaaaaat's some clever new 21st century Politics!<br /><br />There is hope that the Tabloid Press can manage to reach the millions of low-information voters at the grocery checkout lines with lurid details of the Palin family's dysfunctional soap operas in the not-so frozen northland. But then, those same low-information voters might vote for McCain/Palin just to keep themselves in cheap entertainment for the next four years. There is hope that Americans with 3-digit IQs will wake up and smell the frying bacon... er, mooseburgers, vote the nation's best interests this fall instead of their own boredom.<br /><br />You never know... we might be pleasantly surprised.Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-8778140887030738902008-09-03T20:27:00.003-04:002008-09-03T20:34:06.343-04:00It Doesn't Get Any Weirder than This<i>Cross-Posted at <a href="http://www.peoplefirstpolitics.com/">People First Politics</a></i><br /><br /><div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3140/2826587242_c0e8cf6b22_m.jpg" alt="moose3" /></div><br />Well, I was going to report on the St. Paul RNC this week like I did the DNC in Denver last week, but it never quite caught my attention. Hardly anybody went (including the President and Vice-President of the United States, who are the party's figureheads), Weather was lousy in Louisiana so the first day got put off altogether, and Fred Thompson makes me go to sleep.<br /><br />But I've honestly gotta say, this whole Alaska Momma mooseburger beauty queen thing with Sarah Palin has me utterly and completely befoozled. Bamboozled. Conundrumated. WTF???<br /><br />First thing out of the gate was that she's been governator for less than two years, and before that was mayor of a town the same size as Wilburton, Oklahoma (where Granny lives). Then she violated military regulations and operations security by <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/3/171611/4782/777/585025">telling everybody</a> her 18-year old son is deploying on September 11. Then <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/3/14837/94892/994/584792">she lied</a> about her close relationship with indicted AK senator Ted Stevens and his "bridge to nowhere", and 'forgot' to tell anyone that her own state Senate has her under current investigation for abuse of power. Oops.<br /><br />Then she threw her pregnant 17-year old daughter under the bus to 'prove' the Downs Syndrome baby is really her son and not her grandson, even though just showing his birth certificate would have done the trick fine. Then she denied ever being a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, but only addressed their conventions occasionally as some sort of 'courtesy'. Before it came out that <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/2/134634/6120/308/583452">her hubby</a> indeed was a member of AIP - and its <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940CE3DB153CF936A25753C1A962958260">"plastic explosives deal gone bad"</a> characters until 2002. Then... then...<br /><br />It's just a scandal a minute, I can't keep up! Obviously, no one from McCain's campaign - or the government - ever vetted Ms. Mooseburger. Well, there's a reason for that too, now that the mainstream media's awake and paying attention. Turns out <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/352178/secretive_right_wing_group_vetted_palin">she was vetted by James Dobson & Crew</a>, who apparently got carte blanche from the McMansions campaign to pick the V.P. And I'm guessing the only vetting CNP did was to call her hometown preacher. Just... Wow.<br /><br />So. Since I'm too fascinated by this soap opera to bother with the RNC, here's the icing on the cake:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/3/173832/6491/766/585044">Via NRO, Enquirer reporting Palin Adultery</a><br /><br /><blockquote>Another incredible allegation emerging from the family war is that Palin, a mother of five, had an affair with a former business associate of her fisherman husband, Todd.<br /><br />"Todd discovered the affair and quickly dissolved his friendship and his business associations with the guy," charges an enemy. "Many people in Alaska are talking about the rumor and say Todd swept it under the rug."</blockquote><br /><br />Who knows if that one's true? It *is* the Enquirer, which isn't noted for its journalistic standards. But then again, they're the ones who busted John Edwards, so it might be. I'm not taking any odds at this point, given how completely bizzaro this whole thing is so far.<br /><br />And it's been less than a week since we first heard of her. Just... Wow.Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-35749807626437574152008-08-30T13:28:00.001-04:002008-08-30T13:30:16.406-04:00Barack's Historic Speech and... Palin???<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3058/2808346151_563163cfba_m.jpg" alt="ObamaSpeech" /></div><br />The Democratic National Convention wrapped up last night with the most inspiring, detail-filled, well-delivered acceptance speech ever, and I can remember all the way back to Ike's. Obama looked, as usual, cool and collected as he ran down the list of what needs doing, while hitting hard on the past 7+ years of failed leadership, insane paranoia of the American people, legalized torture, and their bid for a third term with Lt. Commander McMansions.<br /><br />Presuming that readers wouldn't have missed it for anything, the speech needs no quoting here. I'd just like to remind everyone that on the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s <i>I Have A Dream</i> speech, Barack Obama amply underlined his soaring rhetorical skills in front of 84,000 people in Mile High Stadium and millions worldwide. The Repuglicans are right to be afraid of him. The dream lives on, might even become a reality in November.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br />As if to attach yet another exclamation point to that piece of serious history, John McCain announced his Veep pick - it's Alaska governor Sarah Palin. I know, I know. You've never heard of her, have you? She's a real piece of work, probably chosen by McCain's 'handlers' rather than he himself in a desperate bid for the PUMA plants, all dozen of 'em having spent all week whining that the 'Pug's first opponent choice didn't get the nomination. Who is this person, you ask? Well...<br /><br />Palin is a 44-year old anti-choice Mom of five with a newborn son who has Downs Syndrome and another son soon being deployed to Iraq. That will probably work to blunt attacks on her wingnut positions, but she's got another problem too. She is under current investigation by the Alaskan legislature's Joint Legislative Council for abuse of power after <a href="http://www.ktva.com/ci_10026165?source=most_viewed">she summarily fired Walt Monegan from his job as Public Safety Commissioner</a>, apparently because he refused to fire Palin's ex-brother in law Michael Wooten. Palin's sister and Wooten had been through a "messy divorce," and the Council is unanimous in its suspicion that the firing came as retribution.<br /><br />Now that she's the Veep nominee, though, we can all be reassured that the DOJ will probably move in to quash the investigation by late this afternoon. Here's some juicy tidbits from a KTVA story dated Thursday [8-15] entitled <a href="http://www.ktva.com/ci_10206518?source=most_viewed">Governor and staff's latest explanations leave more questions</a>. In the left hand sidebar are links to various documents pertinent to the investigation.<br /><br />I suppose she's lucky that John McCain has offered her another, better job just as this situation threatened to explode and end in her own summary firing by impeachment. Hahaha!!! Oh, my. Maybe there simply aren't any honest Republicans to choose from. Sort of makes me feel a little sorry for McCain. This election is definitely not going to be close enough to steal.Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-8088258437124097272008-08-30T13:26:00.001-04:002008-08-30T13:28:28.351-04:00Bill Is Still The Godfather<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3024/2805521797_8cd7a5de82_m.jpg" alt="BClinton" /></div><br />I'll admit I was a little worried that Bill's baton-passing might be as empty of discernible passion as Hillary's, or that he just might express his personal pique at Democrats' rejection of his wife's bid for power. So I was greatly relieved to once again experience Bill Clinton's utter mastery of the art of political rhetoric - his legendary ease with the forum, his self-assured ability to speak his heart effectively, and his sometimes magical talent for drawing trust and confidence from his listeners. Best speech of the convention so far, though John Kerry hit some righteous points as well.<br /><br />Here are some particularly good quotes from the speeches thus far that definitely should be replayed regularly in You Tube viral clips, in television and radio ads, and in print campaign literature through November...<br /><br /><b>Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid:</b><br /><br /><i>"For over a quarter of a century, the Republicans have sold their magic beans with a promise of a giant beanstalk and gold over the horizon. Look what they've done to our country. Look what they've done to our planet."</i><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><b>Pres. Bill Clinton:</b><br /><br /><i>"And so, my fellow Democrats, I say to you: Barack Obama is ready to lead America and to restore American leadership in the world. Barack Obama is ready to honor the oath, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States."<br /><br />"People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."</i><br /><br /><b>Hillary Clinton:</b><br /><br /><i>"How to we give this country back to them? By following the example of a brave New Yorker, a woman who risked her life to bring slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad. On that path to freedom, Harriet Tubman had one piece of advice: 'If you hear the dogs, keep going. If there's shouting after you, keep going. Don't ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.'"</i><br /><br /><b>Sen. John Kerry:</b><br /><br /><i>"...the flag doesn't belong to any ideology. It doesn't belong to any political party. It is an enduring symbol of our nation, and it belongs to all the American people. After all, patriotism is not love of power or some cheap trick to win votes; patriotism is love of country."</i><br /><br /><b>Soon-to-be VP Joe Biden:</b><br /><br /><i>"Let me make this pledge to you right here and now. For every American who is trying to do the right thing, for all those people in government who are honoring their pledge to uphold the law and respect our Constitution, no longer will the eight most dreaded words in the English language be: 'The Vice President's office is on the phone.'"</i><br /><br />Quite the nice build-up to tonight's Big Speech in Invesco Stadium by Barack Obama. I'm expecting some especially great quotes to come from that one, so again, stay tuned!<br /><br /><b>Posts to the DNC Series:</b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.peoplefirstpolitics.com/dnc-08-11/">Stoopid Network Tricks and Dallying Dems</a><br /><a href="http://www.peoplefirstpolitics.com/dnc-08-21/">Assassination Plot Busted, Teddy's Speech</a><br /><a href="http://www.peoplefirstpolitics.com/dnc-08-31/">Hard-Hearted Hillary Made Me Cry</a><br /><a href="http://www.peoplefirstpolitics.com/bill-is-still-the-godfather/">Bill Is Still The Godfather</a>Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-14590012014783599272008-08-30T13:23:00.001-04:002008-08-30T13:26:31.481-04:00Stoopid Network Tricks and Dallying Dems<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3287/2798012128_9b3a762b9d_m.jpg" alt="DNCsprinklers" /></div><br />As I sit here listening to CSPAN pre-convention inanities and old speeches in the background while waiting for the kickoff (and a Teddy Kennedy cry-fest), I figured I'd go ahead and report the first Odd-News story of the '08DNC. It certainly gave me a giggle.<br /><br />The DNC pool coverage this year is being provided by... of all possible sources... Fox News. Just about 12 hours exactly from the opening, the sprinkler system in a Fox skybox was set off, flooding the downstairs concourse and club areas so badly the fire department had to suck it up with shop-vacs. The massive amounts of lighting and broadcasting equipment - and attendant wiring - had to be hastily removed to prevent electrical fire. The link is from KSUA-TV 9 in Denver:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=98286&catid=188">Part of Pepsi Center flooded by sprinkler system</a><br /><br />Some immediate pointed asides occurred to me, so of course I perused the bored-as-me blogosphere to see what kind of speculations might be floating around. The best I've found so far for satirical or just plain humorous value are:<br /><br />• Since it's the Pepsi Center, was it Aquafina?<br />• Their pants were on fire.<br />• Pundit hairspray meets Limbaugh's cigar.<br />• Hot air from Sean Hannity.<br />• Methane. Too much bullshit too close to hot lights.<br /><br />On the fact that some fundamentalists were out front praying for rain...<br /><br />• Proof positive prayer works.<br />• Proof that one needs to word prayers carefully.<br /><br />Hahaha!!! Whew! Presuming Fox's lighting crew figured out they can't put those hot spots within a foot of the heat sensors for the sprinkler system, I've also been idly watching the interactions between people and groups of people wandering through the convention center. If you thought the YKos and NetrootsNation conventions were regular hotbeds of rampant orgy-like partying, the DNC has to take the cake! Never been to one, but judging from PCUSA General Assemblies I've attended, there's definitely a bunch of hanky-panky going on...<br /><br />I'm sure there's an equivalent amount of close encounters that take place during the RNC too, so I'm not saying only one side of the aisle still has some libido. It's just that at the RNC it's chemically-enhanced (Viagra/Cialis) and happening mostly in the men's rest rooms. [rim shot]<br /><br />Hehehe!!! Okay, I think I'm prepared to spend the next four days glued to all-day platform committee hammering, all-evening speechifying and all-night partying - on CSPAN, sans commercials. Should be a magical memory maker this time around!Aileenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05778551712776022625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-90378628612261181882008-07-14T19:01:00.003-04:002008-07-14T19:22:18.416-04:00Yes, we can use the "C" word now<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 05px"> <br /><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3174/2668665611_b88c536e57.jpg"><br /></div><br /><br /><a href="http://bonddad.dailykos.com/">bonddad</a> lays the reality out pretty starkly today in <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/14/81058/6696/954/551287">this post</a> on Daily Kos. He was clear with the title. <b>It's a Very Serious Banking Crises</b><br /><br />This comes on the heels of being struck with the Wall Journal's 7/12 story entitled <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121581435073947103.html?mod=sphere_ts&mod=sphere_wd"> <b>Crises Deepens as Big Bank Fails</b></a>. <br /><br /><blockquote>IndyMac Bank, a prolific mortgage specialist that helped fuel the housing boom, was seized Friday by federal regulators, in the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history. IndyMac is the biggest mortgage lender to go under since a fall in housing prices and surge in defaults began rippling through the economy last year -- and it likely won't be the last. Banking regulators are bracing for a slew of failures over the next year as analysts say housing prices have yet to bottom out.</blockquote><br /><br />The fall of IndyMac and the increasing use of the word "Crisis" by financial media are painting a clear picture that we are in for some deep trouble. How far and how deep is the only remaining question.<br /><br />Today, the WSJ followed up with an even graver warning. <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121599581234249669.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news">Bank Fears Spread After Seizure of IndyMac</a><br /><br /><blockquote>The federal government's seizure of IndyMac Bank is deepening worries among executives, regulators and consumers about the U.S. banking industry, which is in a tightening bind following a long run of prosperity. Banks and thrifts are struggling against a rising tide of bad loans, and it is becoming increasingly clear that some lenders won't be able to escape. While fewer banks are expected to fail than the 834 that went under from 1990 to 1992, it will likely take several years for battered financial institutions to work through their bad loans and replenish their depleted capital.</blockquote><br /><br />Further down, this WSJ article focuses on the problem with insured vs. uninsured deposits and raises issues facing more than just middle class Americans. The chart above reflects this looming issue. Well worth the read.Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00353090672621663788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131792.post-69974419722222545462008-07-13T16:29:00.002-04:002008-07-13T16:37:57.648-04:00Catholic CompassionI caught this moving and deeply inspiring piece by tristero at <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/">digby's Hullabaloo </a>. I've only known one transgendered person and had the privilege to work with her over the course of three years. As a male, he had served in the Persian Gulf as a soldier during the first Iraq war. His photo journal revealed a 6'2" beefcake body in fatigues and boots. <br /><br />This "striking" woman that I had the pleasure to know, was able to transform not just her body, but her whole self. She was confident, pretty, smart and big. I doubt the thugs in the story below would be inclined to attack her like they attacked their victim.<br /><br />The story is about the traditional Catholic ethos. Read the whole thing. It was moving enough to get my ass in gear and post to my blog for a change.<br /><br /><blockquote><a href="http://www.streetprophets.com/storyonly/2008/7/11/10544/3719">Via pastordan</a>, comes <a href="http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6075">this moving story of Catholic behavior at its best</a> courtesy of NC's Pam's House Blend. Here's a <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/07/08/2008-07-08_four_queens_thugs_beat_priest_-1.html">link to the original article</a> at the New York Daily News. <br /><br />Some excerpts:<br />Four punks spewing hateful language at a transgender woman outside a shelter for gay and transgender young people in Queens beat up a priest who attempted to thwart their tirade, police said...<br /><br />..the boys came back armed with metal poles, empty paint cans, belts and a miter saw. "Father was trying to make peace with them, but then one of them hit him in the back of the head with a paint can," Carver said. "He fell to the ground, and they kept hitting him."<br /><br />The other residents fended off the attackers, and when the teens finally fled, they ran past Metropolitan Transportation Authority police officers, who nabbed them and charged all four with assault as a hate crime, gang assault, weapon possession and harassment...<br /><br />[Reverend Louis Braxton, the beaten priest], who shrugged off the attack after being treated for cuts and bruises at Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens, said men are often threatened by transgender women. "I think that young men see these striking girls, and they're attracted," he said. "And when they find out they are male, they don't know how to handle it and act out in rage."</blockquote><br /><br />The author then goes on to pick gems of understanding from Father Braxton.<br /><br /><blockquote>He refused to make himself the center of the story. Just as important, he refused to turn this story into a cynical "teaching moment" on the abject state of young transwomen. Instead, he focused on the kids who attacked the woman and him. Astonishingly, he reacted not with anger, but with empathy and compassion, trying to make sense of their rage and hatred. </blockquote><br /><br />Picking apart the words, the author also noticed something pretty extraordinary. The Priest easily pulled together and delivered compassion to all involved. <br /><br /><blockquote>When I think of what I admire about the Catholic ethos, this is what I have in mind. This deeply-felt loving care for others, demonstrated both in attitudes and deeds, may not be unique to Catholics, but it is a striking feature of so much Catholic charity. Sure, anyone can think of numerous counter-examples of clergy and laity behaving very badly - their attitude towards reproductive rights and women as clergy, the dreadful scandals - but along with those, it is only right to bring up the image of a priest who's been hit over the head with a paint can, beaten up, gone to the hospital for treatment, and who still has the strength of character to show his attackers compassion, and comfort and compliment a frightened young woman.</blockquote>Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00353090672621663788noreply@blogger.com0